Chapter 2

"The costume, your portfolio, my portfolio," Jace counted off the items by the door. "My wallet, car keys... anything else?" Susan shook her head and smiled, then leaned forward and lightly kissed his lips. "Nothing I can think of."

"Good," Jace said. "I shouldn't be gone long. "After I drop the portfolios off at the agent's office, I should be able to get out of the city before rush hour."

"Hurry back, lover, I'll miss you," Susan said, giving him another kiss. "I've grown accustomed to having you around."

"That's good. I'd hate to think the woman I'm going to marry didn't like having me around." He kissed her, then picked up the folios and costume. "See you later."

Standing in the doorway, Susan watched him pull away, then closed the door and climbed the stairs to their second-floor studio. She smiled and began humming, still filled with the warm satisfaction of their lovemaking.

You're a damn lucky woman, Susan Howard, she told herself while taking the recently shot roll of film from the camera. Think what life would be like with a man that didn't like sex as much as you do, or thought sex was something a man and woman did only when they wanted to make babies.

But Jace wasn't like that, not at all, she thought while she entered a darkroom built to the far side of the studio, and turned off the light to begin developing the film.

Letting her hands do a routine job, her mind wandered bask to three years ago when she and Jason had been college seniors. Both art students, they had been lucky ones receiving professional assignments before graduation. Jace had lived with his sister Melinda, a freshman then, in their parents' old house, the top floor of which he converted into a studio.

When Melinda decided to transfer to a college on the West Coast, Jace offered to rent Susan the only remaining bedroom on the second floor, plus share the studio with her. He needed the extra money to pay taxes on the house, and she couldn't pass up the chance of having a studio to work in. After all, a girls' dorm didn't aid in getting the creative juices flowing. Nor did her roommate understand the necessity of staying up without sleep for three days to meet a sticky deadline.

She smiled, remembering those early times together. It was all business. She and Jace ate, slept and worked in the same house. But never once did the attractive young artist make a pass, nor, as a matter of fact, did she. While she knew Jace was good-looking, fulfilling the tall, dark, and handsome criteria she seemed to find attractive in men, he was simply her landlord, plus a very talented artist she worked with.

To be sure, both dated and entertained friends in the house, and both brought home lovers who stayed the night, but never did any romantic thoughts spark between the two of them.

Susan pulled the film from the developing canister, ran it through some quick wash, then hung it to a drying line hung within the small darkroom. Switching on the overhead light, she pulled out a hair dryer to help in the drying process. A professional photographer would climb the walls if he saw film treated so roughly, she thought, but the film was just a step in the artistic process for her. From it would come the reference photographs she needed for the book cover illustration she had to do by the beginning of next week.

She grinned to herself when her thoughts returned to Jace, remembering their first, sort-of, date together. It was the day after graduation and Jace proposed they go into business together, form an official studio, get an agent and make a million or two. She agreed, then drove to a motel where her parents were staying for graduation ceremonies, told them of her plans, listened to their protests, then saw them off, still bemoaning the fact that their little girl was not returning to the Midwest to get married, have babies and become a housewife.

That night, to cheer her up and celebrate their business partnership, Jace had taken her to dinner. Later before she retired to her upstairs bedroom, Jace had kissed her gently--no more than that--a simple, polite good-night kiss.

But from that moment on, she was suddenly aware that the man who lived in the same house as she, her new business partner was just that--a man. His presence constantly reminded her of that fact. But to Jace, nothing seemed to change. It was still all business, even formally so when his sister Melinda came home during school holidays.

Susan sighed, recalling her frustration during those days, while she threaded the dry negatives into the enlarger and turned off the lights to begin the print process.

Only a year ago did Jace come out of that businesslike shell. A shivery, warm thrill suffused through Susan's body remembering that first time...

"Damn!" Susan slammed the receiver into its cradle. "David and Liz can't make it either. Their baby's sick and they won't leave him with a sitter."

"Can't you get another couple to pose?" Jace suggested. "Mary and Bill? We've used them before."

"Out of town," Susan replied. "Lisa and Jim are too. Paula and Greg have got finals, and every other couple won't pose nude. Jace, what am I going to do? This has got to be done and in the city by Wednesday morning. That's less than seventy-two hours."

"Call and say you can't handle the job," Jace replied.

"I can't do that," Susan shook her head. "Thinner Pubs gives us too many jobs. I'd draw and paint this without references, but they want a super realistic, almost photographic approach on this one."

Jace leaned back from his drawing board and lit a cigarette. He looked at her a moment, then glanced back to the painting before him, as though pondering. He shook his head.

"Well, what is it?" she asked, knowing he had just discarded some thought.

"Nothing, " he said. "Just a bad idea."

"Let's have it. I'm desperate. Even a bad idea could help."

He took a deep drag from his cigarette, then crushed it in an ashtray. He looked back at her. "We could pose for it."

"Jace, if that's a proposition, I'm not in the mood. I've got to get this cover painting done." Shivery sensations shot through her at the thought of Jace and her, naked, their bodies, touching.

"Susan, I told you it was a bad idea. I was afraid you would take it as a pass."

She studied him a moment. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"We could use the automatic timer on the camera," Jace said. "Wear bathing suits."

"No it has to be nude," Susan said. "That is, if you don't mind."

He didn't smirk, or joke or chuckle nervously. He simply said. "If that's what you need, I'm willing to help out."

Ten minutes later Susan had tossed some blankets on the floor, set up the lights and positioned the camera on the tripod.

"We're supposed to be lovers. The genitals aren't to be shown, but they want to see the man's buttocks and the woman's breasts. This is for an illustration for a story in one of their men's magazines. The couple is supposed to be on a blanket in the woods. I've already got references on the background." She turned. Her eyes widened.

Jace stood naked and in a very businesslike manner walked to the blankets and sat down. He turned his back to her, so that she could disrobe without his gaze and wouldn't embarrass her.

Those shivery thrills returning while she tried to maintain a similar businesslike and casual manner, Susan stripped. Setting the automatic timer, she joined him on the blanket and stretched out, then helped him position himself in just the right pose.

The camera clicked.

They moved a bit, rearranging themselves, seeking new angles and shadow plays. The camera clicked again.